Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Red Sox president Larry Lucchino has a term for playing in the intense conditions of the Northeast: East Coast Baseball. He is on to something. In Philadelphia, Boston and New York, almost every home game carries an intensity (from fans and media) that is a close facsimile to playoff baseball. And when you do get to October, the frequently cold, wet, blustery weather provides something else to battle, too.

I started thinking about East Coast Baseball as I watched the Dodgers and Angels go 0-4 in Philadelphia and New York in the LCS, all the while looking like they were not up to the challenges of the crowd and the weather. And then I thought, is there something to West Coast teams not measuring up to East Coast Baseball in October? [...]

It turns out there have been 22 playoff matchups when a West Coast team ventured into East Coast Baseball. The result: the West Coast teams are 10-36 in East Coast Baseball venues, a .217 winning percentage. In other words, get them out of their laid-back, warm environment and into the nasty conditions in the East, and they're not even the 1962 Mets.

And it is not getting any easier. Since 2003 the West Coast teams are 3-17 in East Coast Baseball playoff environments. That's the kind of history the Dodgers are up against tonight when they play NLCS Game 5 in Philadelphia. Bundle up, Dodgers.

Interesting how cold weather = intense fans. You mean it has nothing to do with the combined $320 million the Yankees and Phillies are spending (versus $227 million for the Dodgers and Angels)? Or the propensity of East Coast-based writers to perpetuate the mythos of the East Coast Sports Fan? Oh, and where do the Red Sox — swept out of the ALDS by those softy-soft Angels — fit in?

What's your take, SoSG readers? (As if you needed something else to get you fired up for tonight's game!)

This presumes that all teams have guys on the roster who are only from that area, and are therefore acclimated to the weather of the region. Not all Yankees are from NY, and not all Dodgers are from L.A. In fact, most teams have players from Latin American countries where the average temp never drops below 70. How can those guys possibly play well in wintry conditions?

Give me a break. It's cold for everyone. People adjust. It's not as though the Phillies play in snowstorms all year to prepare themselves for the playoffs. This feels like some cherry-picked evidence.

I can't stand this myth that East coast teams have better fans, better players, etc. It's a slap in the fact to someone like me who went to more than 20 Dodger games this year, never got there late or left early. The only reason that people think it's true is because it gets perpetuated by MSM, most of whom are Eastern based. There is a clear East coast bias in sports that I have come to live with, but it still makes me angry.

I think it's a good thing that Larry Lucchino is Red Sox President, not General Manager. C'mon Larry, a little perspective, please. I like your team, but they've had their asses handed to them by two warm-weather teams with fans that would not usually be described as as intense as your own fan base two years running.

Exactly, MattKemp. I've been to 25 games this year, have invested my heart and soul and pocketbook in this team (hell, probably more investment than my 401k!), and I'm sick and tired of being represented as a fair-weather fan or any less of a fan of less than a real team.

fact is though, less people watch baseball here than on the east coast. Thats just a fact. The fact our ratings were higher watching football last Sunday (where we don't even have a team) than the Dodger game is alarming. Maybe its just more people live on the East coast than here, I dunno but I was pretty annoyed to find out there was legitimate evidence of this kind of shit